Covid-19: Four new cases of sub-variant BF.7 detected in West Bengal

Of the four people, three are of the same family and are native of Nadia district, while one person hails from Bihar but currently resides in Kolkata.

Kolkata, Jan 04: Four new cases of Covid-19 sub-variant BF.7 found in West Bengal on Wednesday, the state's health department said.

Genome sequencing of the four people, who have recently returned from the US, confirmed that they were infected with the new variant of the coronavirus, he said.

The condition of the four patients is stable, he said.

Of the four people, three are of the same family and are native of Nadia district, while one person hails from Bihar but currently resides in Kolkata, the official told PTI.

The state health department has found that a total of 33 people have come in contact with these four infected people.

"All the 33 people are healthy and we are monitoring their condition as well," he said.

Since last month, the samples of all people arriving at Kolkata airport from abroad who tested positive for COVID-19 were collected for genome sequencing.

Last week, two persons, including a foreign national, tested positive for COVID-19 at Kolkata airport, and their genome sequencing later confirmed they were infected with the BF.7 subvariant of Omicron.

The development comes in the backdrop of the highly transmissible Omicron strains, mostly BF.7, causing a spike in coronavirus cases in many countries, including China. India has joined the United States, Japan, Italy and Taiwan in imposing mandatory COVID tests for travellers from China, amid a COVID-19 surge there after authorities relaxed strict ''zero-COVID'' rules.

It is unlikely that Covid will be completely eliminated but there seems little chance of a significant outbreak of the disease in India in the next two months.

China rolled back many of its tough pandemic restrictions earlier this month, allowing the virus to spread in a country that had seen relatively few infections since an initial devastating outbreak in the city of Wuhan in early 2020.